South Korean police lose Bitcoin seized and stored in cold wallets since 2021

PANews February 13 News, according to The Block, the Seoul Gangnam Police Department recently discovered during an internal investigation that 22 bitcoins (currently valued at approximately $1.5 million) seized in November 2021 had been transferred from a USB cold wallet. As the related investigation has been paused, the asset loss went unnoticed for a long time. The involved USB device itself was not stolen. The Northern Gyeonggi Provincial Police Department has initiated an internal investigation to determine the details of the fund loss and whether any internal personnel were involved. The police declined to provide further details about the ongoing investigation.

This discovery follows a nationwide special inspection of seized assets initiated after the recent loss of 320 seized bitcoins by the Gwangju District Prosecutor’s Office. Local media reported that the Gwangju prosecutors’ evidence management personnel mistakenly logged a phishing website, leading to the theft of the seized bitcoins.